From left) Professor Lee Won-jong, Lee Jung-hyun, and Kang Soo-jin

A study has been published showing the possibility that exosomes extracted from plants will be used as treatments for obesity. 

As the number of obese patients continues to increase worldwide, interest in the development of obesity treatments with high efficiency and low side effects is growing.

Recently, weight loss treatments based on glucagon-like peptide receptor agonists have been released, and domestic pharmaceutical companies are also actively conducting research.

However, there is an urgent need to develop a new biomaterial-based treatment that will supplement the side effects of existing drugs and provide anti-obesity effects by weight loss more effectively, away from the method of suppressing appetite. The research team at Incheon National University identified the effects of plant-derived exosomes on obesity, which is meaningful in that it has suggested a new possibility as a next-generation obesity treatment.

Exosomes are nano-sized lipid membrane vesicles containing bioactive substances and are attracting attention as next-generation therapeutic agents because they have biocompatibility and low immune response properties. In particular, this study confirmed the effect of obesity treatment using plant-derived exosomes purified from spinach.

As a result of oral administration of spinach-derived exosomes to an obesity-induced mouse model eating a high-fat diet, it was confirmed that the fat tissue weight and weight gain were significantly reduced. In addition, it was not found to cause toxicity to major organs. This is an important finding that simultaneously proves the safety and therapeutic potential of spinach-derived exosomes.

Professor Lee Won-jong (Department of Biotechnology), who led the study, said, "This study is a groundbreaking achievement that presents the possibility of being a weight-loss obesity treatment using exosomes separated from plants that are consumed on a daily basis," adding, "It has laid an important foundation for the development of low-cost, high-efficiency biomaterial-based obesity treatments." 

The findings were published in the international renowned academic journal ADVANCED THERAPEUTICS and were selected as cover papers. 

This study was carried out as part of the Korea Research Foundation's mid-sized research support project and the Incheon National University research support project, and the first authors were Lee Jung-hyun and Kang Soo-jin of Incheon National University.

Image of the thesis by Professor Lee-Wonjong's team